A national consultation for a new education sector plan hosted by the Ministry of Education has commenced.

The project is being funded by the Government of Canada through the Caribbean Development Bank and will be conducted throughout this week at the Goodwill Parish Hall.

Stakeholders of the education system, including education officials, teachers and students are expected to participate in the consultation.

Newly appointed Minister of Education, Human Resource Planning, Vocational Training and National Excellence, Honourable Octavia Alfred stated that this plan is critical to the changing reality.

“I am happy for the development of this education sector plan designed to improve the quality and efficiency of the education sector. The sector plan has a particular focus on gender disparity and building climate resilience; two areas I believe are of utmost reliance to our changing reality,” Honorable Alfred stated.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Human Resource Planning, Vocational Training and National Excellence, Chandler Hyacinth stated that the national education sector plan will reflect the government’s vision for the education system.

“Literature describes an education sector plan as a long range plan for the long term incorporating of the vision for a country’s education system. It generally sets purpose and direction for education. It includes Government and approach to achieving vision and principles goals for education and also includes monetary and evaluation mechanisms,” she explained.

The draft of the sector plan will be examined throughout the consultation and will provide a guide for the Ministry of Education to assist in the management of the country’s education system.

“We are going to examine the preliminary draft of this sector plan for 2020 to 2025. This plan builds on work that was already done on a diagnosis of the education system in Dominica a few years ago by Dr. Didacus Jules. This education sector plan provides a road map for the Ministry of Education to follow to improve the provision and governance of education over the next few years. This plan is guided by our vision ‘every learner succeeds’,” Hyacinth stated.

According to the Permanent Secretary, the new sector plan will address issues faced by the ministry, including the management of finances and the quality of the education that students receive.

“This plan also responds to the developmental priorities which is outlined in a number of national documents such as the National Resilience Strategy. It is informed by a number of regional and international documents in particular the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal. The plan highlights the main policy issues which includes issues related to access, issues related to participation, the quality of our education system, how relevant is what we have, and issues related to governance, management and finance,” Hyacinth went on to explain.

She also outlined some of the strategies that will be included into the education sector plan.

“Some of the strategies will include how do we improve equitable access, how do we improve participation in education, in particular how do we build skills for the economy of Dominica and how do we encourage more participation in skills and vocational training. There will also be strategies to strengthen the quality and the relevance of education so that in the long term we can improve our learning outcomes,” Hyacinth further added.